2007 Mosquito parts recovery story - Kenora Ontario

[kenair]

Hi, hope this Facebook link workshttps://www.facebook.com/groups/363673500402494/permalink/1282507275185774/ so you can see the Facebook post on the Mosquito parts recovery in Kenora Ontario - around 2007.

A buddy in Kenora Ontario received this write up and photos of recovering Mosquito parts for the now Yagen Mosquito YEG - not sure if these photos have been posted before but I'll share them anyway.

I'll post some of the photos here if you cannot get the Facebook link to work.

Attachments

[marine air]

FWIW, I was in Memphis, Tennessee a couple days ago delivering an aircraft. While there I talked to a senior mechanic that said there was a Mosquito in Memphis. He said it was disassembled, but a real one. Anyone know anything about this?

[DH82EH]

This doesn't appear among the list of survivors.
It would be great if it were true.

Any chance of being able to follow up?

[marine air]

the story doesn't sound 100% accurate. Why would you bury it as it's not a rotting carcass? Why not push it into the nearby treeline, or give it away to some farmer that can use parts off it, or a local A&P that can pick parts off it to save money. To bury something like that it would make sense to first burn it as it's wood.
I bought an old farm 12 years ago. It had a 1941 Chevy in the garage that had been parked for 30 years. The seller gave it to a family member and he dismantled it, and it's sitting rotting behind his trailer. There was a Model T in the barn that was disassembled and he sold for $200, that was parts only. I hauled about 8,000 pounds of scrap iron away to recycling. Most of it was stuff that was broken and the previous folks hauled into the woods and forgot about it. Rotten wood, furniture, chairs, etc were burnt. Nothing was buried as that takes too much extra effort. easier to sell it, give it away, haul it away than burn it or bury it.
The buried aircraft in Europe often made a huge smoking crater. The farmers simply threw everything into the crater, filled it and resumed farming.

[Sopwith]

I believe he means a follow up on the Memphis Mosquito that you mentioned marine air.

[marine air]

I have a couple friends in Memphis and will try to see if it's true. I noticed that on the Warbird registry there are a lot of Mosquitos on display built up from multiple airframes and more bits and pieces around the world than I realized. Because of the aggregate amount of surviving bits and pieces, I would guess the rumour may be true. Will update when able.

[DH82EH]

Yes indeed.
Sorry I didn't clarify.
I was referring to the Memphis reference.

This is another link that shows a list of survivors (complete, parts and potentials) just FYI.

http://www.mossie.org/Mosquito_loc.htm

Let's hope your follow up bears fruit.

Thanks

Andy

[marine air]

Okay, both of my contacts in Memphis reported that there is in fact a Mosquito basketcase project in Memphis. The guy has tons of parts in boxes and occasionally takes a piece out and works on it. He has the correct RR banks but no engines, etc. There's a lot there but maybe not enough expertise to ever finish it. He claims to have enough parts and pieces to build up two Mosquitos.
One guess is maybe one of the identities is the former CAF basketcase, N9868F, RF670, a FB VI.
Hope this helps.

[avenger2504]

The one that was buried was the subject of an article (maybe Classic Wings?) and they recovered quite a few usable parts from the remains which went into the rebuild of KA114.

[DH82EH]

WOW!
Thanks for the follow up marine air.
Very interesting.
If it is RF670, then I saw bits of it at Harlingen when I was there in 1984. I recall nacelles and landing gear looking largely complete.
They were just kind of heaped outside one of the hangars.

[marine air]

Your welcome. FWIW, you may remember the late Gary Austin the onetime chief of maintenance for the CAF. I remember some of his posts talking about the CAF was getting rid of all kinds of junk and items deemed surplus to their needs. Gary posted "You would not believe the stuff they are getting rid of." This is the time that they divested themselves of the AM-1 Mauler, the B-23, the Shackleton, the Buchon, a Zero, and many truckloads of junk that was taking up space and not creating revenue.
Later after Gary passed away, a friend and I drove over to the estate sale. All the really good stuff was gone or tagged to be picked up. We were able to pick up a Main landing gear strut for a Casa 2.111 and a piece of cowling and exhaust that came from either a Mosquito or the CASA 2.111 . Gary formerly was a Memhis resident and it's an educated guess that the Mosquitos in Memphis came through the CAF's divestiture at that time.

[marine air]

Double Post

[DH82EH]

I will never forget Gary.
He's a legend here on WIX.
I have never had such a sense of loss, for someone whom, I had never met.
I do recall that Memphis was a part of his past. Makes sense that stuff might end up there.
As Gary would have said, It's not junk. It's "junque".

Hopefully something substantial will emerge from these bits one day.
The Mosquitoes coming out of Avspecs in N.Z. are works of art.
More is always welcome.

Andy

[DH82EH]

I'll definitely agree that the "Mossie.org" site is dated to put it mildly.

Even though it's dated, it's a source of info.

It's certainly not my intention to mislead anyone.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia page. It however, does not refer to the likely identity / identities of the parts in Memphis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... _Mosquitos

There is also the registry page through this site http://www.warbirdregistry.org/mossiere ... istry.html

Andy

[Chris Brame]

Speaking of derelict Mosquitoes:

The cut-up remains of FB. Mk VI PZ474/N9909F flanking a derelict Cessna Bamboo Bomber at Whiteman Airport, Pacoima, CA. Still frame from the 1969 movie Pit Stop.